--- JSON-XS/XS.pm 2007/12/02 15:34:13 1.76 +++ JSON-XS/XS.pm 2008/04/29 16:07:56 1.103 @@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ JSON::XS - JSON serialising/deserialising, done correctly and fast +=encoding utf-8 + JSON::XS - 正しくて高速な JSON シリアライザ/デシリアライザ (http://fleur.hio.jp/perldoc/mix/lib/JSON/XS.html) @@ -12,8 +14,8 @@ # exported functions, they croak on error # and expect/generate UTF-8 - $utf8_encoded_json_text = to_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref; - $perl_hash_or_arrayref = from_json $utf8_encoded_json_text; + $utf8_encoded_json_text = encode_json $perl_hash_or_arrayref; + $perl_hash_or_arrayref = decode_json $utf8_encoded_json_text; # OO-interface @@ -21,12 +23,28 @@ $pretty_printed_unencoded = $coder->encode ($perl_scalar); $perl_scalar = $coder->decode ($unicode_json_text); + # Note that JSON version 2.0 and above will automatically use JSON::XS + # if available, at virtually no speed overhead either, so you should + # be able to just: + + use JSON; + + # and do the same things, except that you have a pure-perl fallback now. + =head1 DESCRIPTION This module converts Perl data structures to JSON and vice versa. Its primary goal is to be I and its secondary goal is to be I. To reach the latter goal it was written in C. +Beginning with version 2.0 of the JSON module, when both JSON and +JSON::XS are installed, then JSON will fall back on JSON::XS (this can be +overriden) with no overhead due to emulation (by inheritign constructor +and methods). If JSON::XS is not available, it will fall back to the +compatible JSON::PP module as backend, so using JSON instead of JSON::XS +gives you a portable JSON API that can be fast when you need and doesn't +require a C compiler when that is a problem. + As this is the n-th-something JSON module on CPAN, what was the reason to write yet another JSON module? While it seems there are many JSON modules, none of them correctly handle all corner cases, and in most cases @@ -44,15 +62,16 @@ =item * correct Unicode handling -This module knows how to handle Unicode, and even documents how and when -it does so. +This module knows how to handle Unicode, documents how and when it does +so, and even documents what "correct" means. =item * round-trip integrity When you serialise a perl data structure using only datatypes supported by JSON, the deserialised data structure is identical on the Perl level. (e.g. the string "2.0" doesn't suddenly become "2" just because it looks -like a number). +like a number). There minor I exceptions to this, read the MAPPING +section below to learn about those. =item * strict checking of JSON correctness @@ -62,17 +81,17 @@ =item * fast -Compared to other JSON modules, this module compares favourably in terms -of speed, too. +Compared to other JSON modules and other serialisers such as Storable, +this module usually compares favourably in terms of speed, too. =item * simple to use -This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an OO -interface. +This module has both a simple functional interface as well as an objetc +oriented interface interface. =item * reasonably versatile output formats -You can choose between the most compact guaranteed single-line format +You can choose between the most compact guaranteed-single-line format possible (nice for simple line-based protocols), a pure-ascii format (for when your transport is not 8-bit clean, still supports the whole Unicode range), or a pretty-printed format (for when you want to read that @@ -86,10 +105,20 @@ use strict; -our $VERSION = '2.0'; +our $VERSION = '2.2'; our @ISA = qw(Exporter); -our @EXPORT = qw(to_json from_json); +our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json to_json from_json); + +sub to_json($) { + require Carp; + Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::to_json has been renamed to encode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call"); +} + +sub from_json($) { + require Carp; + Carp::croak ("JSON::XS::from_json has been renamed to decode_json, either downgrade to pre-2.0 versions of JSON::XS or rename the call"); +} use Exporter; use XSLoader; @@ -101,7 +130,7 @@ =over 4 -=item $json_text = to_json $perl_scalar +=item $json_text = encode_json $perl_scalar Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string (that is, the string contains octets only). Croaks on error. @@ -112,9 +141,9 @@ except being faster. -=item $perl_scalar = from_json $json_text +=item $perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text -The opposite of C: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries +The opposite of C: expects an UTF-8 (binary) string and tries to parse that as an UTF-8 encoded JSON text, returning the resulting reference. Croaks on error. @@ -150,11 +179,11 @@ =item 2. Perl does I associate an encoding with your strings. -Unless you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or printing -the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your string as -locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending on various -settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your data, it is -I that decides encoding, not any magical metadata. +... until you force it to, e.g. when matching it against a regex, or +printing the scalar to a file, in which case Perl either interprets your +string as locale-encoded text, octets/binary, or as Unicode, depending +on various settings. In no case is an encoding stored together with your +data, it is I that decides encoding, not any magical meta data. =item 3. The internal utf-8 flag has no meaning with regards to the encoding of your string. @@ -218,6 +247,9 @@ characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. This results in a faster and more compact format. +See also the section I later in this +document. + The main use for this flag is to produce JSON texts that can be transmitted over a 7-bit channel, as the encoded JSON texts will not contain any 8 bit characters. @@ -239,6 +271,9 @@ If C<$enable> is false, then the C method will not escape Unicode characters unless required by the JSON syntax or other flags. +See also the section I later in this +document. + The main use for this flag is efficiently encoding binary data as JSON text, as most octets will not be escaped, resulting in a smaller encoded size. The disadvantage is that the resulting JSON text is encoded @@ -267,6 +302,9 @@ Unicode string. Any decoding or encoding (e.g. to UTF-8 or UTF-16) needs to be done yourself, e.g. using the Encode module. +See also the section I later in this +document. + Example, output UTF-16BE-encoded JSON: use Encode; @@ -427,6 +465,22 @@ JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!") => "Hello, World!" +=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable]) + +=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown + +If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C will I throw an +exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for +example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C value. Note +that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by +c. + +If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C will throw an +exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON. + +This option does not affect C in any way, and it is recommended to +leave it off unless you know your communications partner. + =item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable]) =item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed @@ -457,8 +511,8 @@ way. C must take care of not causing an endless recursion cycle (== crash) in this case. The name of C was chosen because other methods called by the Perl core (== not by the user of the object) are -usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with the C -function. +usually in upper case letters and to avoid collisions with any C +function or method. This setting does not yet influence C in any way, but in the future, global hooks might get installed that influence C and are @@ -576,9 +630,9 @@ =item $max_depth = $json->get_max_depth Sets the maximum nesting level (default C<512>) accepted while encoding -or decoding. If the JSON text or Perl data structure has an equal or -higher nesting level then this limit, then the encoder and decoder will -stop and croak at that point. +or decoding. If a higher nesting level is detected in JSON text or a Perl +data structure, then the encoder and decoder will stop and croak at that +point. Nesting level is defined by number of hash- or arrayrefs that the encoder needs to traverse to reach a given point or the number of C<{> or C<[> @@ -588,9 +642,12 @@ Setting the maximum depth to one disallows any nesting, so that ensures that the object is only a single hash/object or array. -The argument to C will be rounded up to the next highest power -of two. If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be -used, which is rarely useful. +If no argument is given, the highest possible setting will be used, which +is rarely useful. + +Note that nesting is implemented by recursion in C. The default value has +been chosen to be as large as typical operating systems allow without +crashing. See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful. @@ -600,13 +657,12 @@ Set the maximum length a JSON text may have (in bytes) where decoding is being attempted. The default is C<0>, meaning no limit. When C -is called on a string longer then this number of characters it will not +is called on a string that is longer then this many bytes, it will not attempt to decode the string but throw an exception. This setting has no effect on C (yet). -The argument to C will be rounded up to the next B -power of two (so may be more than requested). If no argument is given, the -limit check will be deactivated (same as when C<0> is specified). +If no argument is given, the limit check will be deactivated (same as when +C<0> is specified). See SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS, below, for more info on why this is useful. @@ -645,6 +701,226 @@ =back +=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING + +[This section and the API it details is still EXPERIMENTAL] + +In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON +texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting +Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a +JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has +a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to +using C to see if a full JSON object is available, but is +much more efficient (JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text +once it is sure it has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very +simple but truly incremental parser). + +The following two methods deal with this. + +=over 4 + +=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string]) + +This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and +extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these +functions are optional). + +If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already +existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object. + +After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply +return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text +in as many chunks as you want. + +If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract +exactly I JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this +object, otherwise it will return C. If there is a parse error, +this method will croak just as C would do (one can then use +C to skip the errornous part). This is the most common way of +using the method. + +And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects +from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list +otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators between the JSON +objects or arrays, instead they must be concatenated back-to-back. If +an error occurs, an exception will be raised as in the scalar context +case. Note that in this case, any previously-parsed JSON texts will be +lost. + +=item $lvalue_string = $json->incr_text + +This method returns the currently stored JSON fragment as an lvalue, that +is, you can manipulate it. This I works when a preceding call to +C in I successfully returned an object. Under +all other circumstances you must not call this function (I mean it. +although in simple tests it might actually work, it I fail under +real world conditions). As a special exception, you can also call this +method before having parsed anything. + +This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a +JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text +(such as commas). + +=item $json->incr_skip + +This will reset the state of the incremental parser and will remove the +parsed text from the input buffer. This is useful after C +died, in which case the input buffer and incremental parser state is left +unchanged, to skip the text parsed so far and to reset the parse state. + +=back + +=head2 LIMITATIONS + +All options that affect decoding are supported, except +C. The reason for this is that it cannot be made to +work sensibly: JSON objects and arrays are self-delimited, i.e. you can concatenate +them back to back and still decode them perfectly. This does not hold true +for JSON numbers, however. + +For example, is the string C<1> a single JSON number, or is it simply the +start of C<12>? Or is C<12> a single JSON number, or the concatenation +of C<1> and C<2>? In neither case you can tell, and this is why JSON::XS +takes the conservative route and disallows this case. + +=head2 EXAMPLES + +Some examples will make all this clearer. First, a simple example that +works similarly to C: We want to decode the JSON object at +the start of a string and identify the portion after the JSON object: + + my $text = "[1,2,3] hello"; + + my $json = new JSON::XS; + + my $obj = $json->incr_parse ($text) + or die "expected JSON object or array at beginning of string"; + + my $tail = $json->incr_text; + # $tail now contains " hello" + +Easy, isn't it? + +Now for a more complicated example: Imagine a hypothetical protocol where +you read some requests from a TCP stream, and each request is a JSON +array, without any separation between them (in fact, it is often useful to +use newlines as "separators", as these get interpreted as whitespace at +the start of the JSON text, which makes it possible to test said protocol +with C...). + +Here is how you'd do it (it is trivial to write this in an event-based +manner): + + my $json = new JSON::XS; + + # read some data from the socket + while (sysread $socket, my $buf, 4096) { + + # split and decode as many requests as possible + for my $request ($json->incr_parse ($buf)) { + # act on the $request + } + } + +Another complicated example: Assume you have a string with JSON objects +or arrays, all separated by (optional) comma characters (e.g. C<[1],[2], +[3]>). To parse them, we have to skip the commas between the JSON texts, +and here is where the lvalue-ness of C comes in useful: + + my $text = "[1],[2], [3]"; + my $json = new JSON::XS; + + # void context, so no parsing done + $json->incr_parse ($text); + + # now extract as many objects as possible. note the + # use of scalar context so incr_text can be called. + while (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) { + # do something with $obj + + # now skip the optional comma + $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* , //x; + } + +Now lets go for a very complex example: Assume that you have a gigantic +JSON array-of-objects, many gigabytes in size, and you want to parse it, +but you cannot load it into memory fully (this has actually happened in +the real world :). + +Well, you lost, you have to implement your own JSON parser. But JSON::XS +can still help you: You implement a (very simple) array parser and let +JSON decode the array elements, which are all full JSON objects on their +own (this wouldn't work if the array elements could be JSON numbers, for +example): + + my $json = new JSON::XS; + + # open the monster + open my $fh, "incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing + + # Exit the loop once we found and removed(!) the initial "[". + # In essence, we are (ab-)using the $json object as a simple scalar + # we append data to. + last if $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* \[ //x; + } + + # now we have the skipped the initial "[", so continue + # parsing all the elements. + for (;;) { + # in this loop we read data until we got a single JSON object + for (;;) { + if (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) { + # do something with $obj + last; + } + + # add more data + sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536 + or die "read error: $!"; + $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing + } + + # in this loop we read data until we either found and parsed the + # separating "," between elements, or the final "]" + for (;;) { + # first skip whitespace + $json->incr_text =~ s/^\s*//; + + # if we find "]", we are done + if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^\]//) { + print "finished.\n"; + exit; + } + + # if we find ",", we can continue with the next element + if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^,//) { + last; + } + + # if we find anything else, we have a parse error! + if (length $json->incr_text) { + die "parse error near ", $json->incr_text; + } + + # else add more data + sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536 + or die "read error: $!"; + $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing + } + +This is a complex example, but most of the complexity comes from the fact +that we are trying to be correct (bear with me if I am wrong, I never ran +the above example :). + + + =head1 MAPPING This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and @@ -682,19 +958,19 @@ string scalar in perl, depending on its range and any fractional parts. On the Perl level, there is no difference between those as Perl handles all the conversion details, but an integer may take slightly less memory and -might represent more values exactly than (floating point) numbers. +might represent more values exactly than floating point numbers. If the number consists of digits only, JSON::XS will try to represent it as an integer value. If that fails, it will try to represent it as a numeric (floating point) value if that is possible without loss of -precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value. +precision. Otherwise it will preserve the number as a string value (in +which case you lose roundtripping ability, as the JSON number will be +re-encoded toa JSON string). Numbers containing a fractional or exponential part will always be represented as numeric (floating point) values, possibly at a loss of -precision. - -This might create round-tripping problems as numbers might become strings, -but as Perl is typeless there is no other way to do it. +precision (in which case you might lose perfect roundtripping ability, but +the JSON number will still be re-encoded as a JSON number). =item true, false @@ -741,7 +1017,7 @@ C<1>, which get turned into C and C atoms in JSON. You can also use C and C to improve readability. - to_json [\0,JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true] + encode_json [\0,JSON::XS::true] # yields [false,true] =item JSON::XS::true, JSON::XS::false @@ -750,28 +1026,30 @@ =item blessed objects -Blessed objects are not allowed. JSON::XS currently tries to encode their -underlying representation (hash- or arrayref), but this behaviour might -change in future versions. +Blessed objects are not directly representable in JSON. See the +C and C methods on various options on +how to deal with this: basically, you can choose between throwing an +exception, encoding the reference as if it weren't blessed, or provide +your own serialiser method. =item simple scalars Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most difficult objects to encode: JSON::XS will encode undefined scalars as -JSON null value, scalars that have last been used in a string context -before encoding as JSON strings and anything else as number value: +JSON C values, scalars that have last been used in a string context +before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value: # dump as number - to_json [2] # yields [2] - to_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17] - my $value = 5; to_json [$value] # yields [5] + encode_json [2] # yields [2] + encode_json [-3.0e17] # yields [-3e+17] + my $value = 5; encode_json [$value] # yields [5] # used as string, so dump as string print $value; - to_json [$value] # yields ["5"] + encode_json [$value] # yields ["5"] # undef becomes null - to_json [undef] # yields [null] + encode_json [undef] # yields [null] You can force the type to be a JSON string by stringifying it: @@ -787,103 +1065,117 @@ $x *= 1; # same thing, the choice is yours. You can not currently force the type in other, less obscure, ways. Tell me -if you need this capability. +if you need this capability (but don't forget to explain why it's needed +:). =back -=head1 COMPARISON +=head1 ENCODING/CODESET FLAG NOTES -As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing -JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the -problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules, -followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer -from any of these problems or limitations. +The interested reader might have seen a number of flags that signify +encodings or codesets - C, C and C. There seems to be +some confusion on what these do, so here is a short comparison: + +C controls whether the JSON text created by C (and expected +by C) is UTF-8 encoded or not, while C and C only +control whether C escapes character values outside their respective +codeset range. Neither of these flags conflict with each other, although +some combinations make less sense than others. + +Care has been taken to make all flags symmetrical with respect to +C and C, that is, texts encoded with any combination of +these flag values will be correctly decoded when the same flags are used +- in general, if you use different flag settings while encoding vs. when +decoding you likely have a bug somewhere. + +Below comes a verbose discussion of these flags. Note that a "codeset" is +simply an abstract set of character-codepoint pairs, while an encoding +takes those codepoint numbers and I them, in our case into +octets. Unicode is (among other things) a codeset, UTF-8 is an encoding, +and ISO-8859-1 (= latin 1) and ASCII are both codesets I encodings at +the same time, which can be confusing. =over 4 -=item JSON 1.07 - -Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl). - -Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles Unicode values is -undocumented. One can get far by feeding it Unicode strings and doing -en-/decoding oneself, but Unicode escapes are not working properly). - -No round-tripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g. -the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will -decode into the number 2. - -=item JSON::PC 0.01 - -Very fast. - -Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling. - -No round-tripping. - -Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic -values will make it croak). - -Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}> -which is not a valid JSON text. - -Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not -getting fixed). - -=item JSON::Syck 0.21 +=item C flag disabled -Very buggy (often crashes). - -Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much -undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a -single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to -generate ASCII-only JSON texts). - -Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (Unicode -escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to -I values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour). - -No round-tripping (simple cases work, but this depends on whether the scalar -value was used in a numeric context or not). - -Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state. - -Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not -getting fixed). - -Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and -return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security -issue: imagine two banks transferring money between each other using -JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money, -while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a -good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and -the transaction will still not succeed). - -=item JSON::DWIW 0.04 - -Very fast. Very natural. Very nice. - -Undocumented Unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes -still don't get parsed properly). - -Very inflexible. - -No round-tripping. - -Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys -result in nothing being output) - -Does not check input for validity. +When C is disabled (the default), then C/C generate +and expect Unicode strings, that is, characters with high ordinal Unicode +values (> 255) will be encoded as such characters, and likewise such +characters are decoded as-is, no canges to them will be done, except +"(re-)interpreting" them as Unicode codepoints or Unicode characters, +respectively (to Perl, these are the same thing in strings unless you do +funny/weird/dumb stuff). + +This is useful when you want to do the encoding yourself (e.g. when you +want to have UTF-16 encoded JSON texts) or when some other layer does +the encoding for you (for example, when printing to a terminal using a +filehandle that transparently encodes to UTF-8 you certainly do NOT want +to UTF-8 encode your data first and have Perl encode it another time). + +=item C flag enabled + +If the C-flag is enabled, C/C will encode all +characters using the corresponding UTF-8 multi-byte sequence, and will +expect your input strings to be encoded as UTF-8, that is, no "character" +of the input string must have any value > 255, as UTF-8 does not allow +that. + +The C flag therefore switches between two modes: disabled means you +will get a Unicode string in Perl, enabled means you get an UTF-8 encoded +octet/binary string in Perl. + +=item C or C flags enabled + +With C (or C) enabled, C will escape characters +with ordinal values > 255 (> 127 with C) and encode the remaining +characters as specified by the C flag. + +If C is disabled, then the result is also correctly encoded in those +character sets (as both are proper subsets of Unicode, meaning that a +Unicode string with all character values < 256 is the same thing as a +ISO-8859-1 string, and a Unicode string with all character values < 128 is +the same thing as an ASCII string in Perl). + +If C is enabled, you still get a correct UTF-8-encoded string, +regardless of these flags, just some more characters will be escaped using +C<\uXXXX> then before. + +Note that ISO-8859-1-I strings are not compatible with UTF-8 +encoding, while ASCII-encoded strings are. That is because the ISO-8859-1 +encoding is NOT a subset of UTF-8 (despite the ISO-8859-1 I being +a subset of Unicode), while ASCII is. + +Surprisingly, C will ignore these flags and so treat all input +values as governed by the C flag. If it is disabled, this allows you +to decode ISO-8859-1- and ASCII-encoded strings, as both strict subsets of +Unicode. If it is enabled, you can correctly decode UTF-8 encoded strings. + +So neither C nor C are incompatible with the C flag - +they only govern when the JSON output engine escapes a character or not. + +The main use for C is to relatively efficiently store binary data +as JSON, at the expense of breaking compatibility with most JSON decoders. + +The main use for C is to force the output to not contain characters +with values > 127, which means you can interpret the resulting string +as UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ASCII, KOI8-R or most about any character set and +8-bit-encoding, and still get the same data structure back. This is useful +when your channel for JSON transfer is not 8-bit clean or the encoding +might be mangled in between (e.g. in mail), and works because ASCII is a +proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world. =back =head2 JSON and YAML -You often hear that JSON is a subset (or a close subset) of YAML. This is, -however, a mass hysteria and very far from the truth. In general, there is -no way to configure JSON::XS to output a data structure as valid YAML. +You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass +hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing), +so let me state it clearly: I that works in all +cases. If you really must use JSON::XS to generate YAML, you should use this algorithm (subject to change in future versions): @@ -891,15 +1183,44 @@ my $to_yaml = JSON::XS->new->utf8->space_after (1); my $yaml = $to_yaml->encode ($ref) . "\n"; -This will usually generate JSON texts that also parse as valid +This will I generate JSON texts that also parse as valid YAML. Please note that YAML has hardcoded limits on (simple) object key -lengths that JSON doesn't have, so you should make sure that your hash -keys are noticeably shorter than the 1024 characters YAML allows. +lengths that JSON doesn't have and also has different and incompatible +unicode handling, so you should make sure that your hash keys are +noticeably shorter than the 1024 "stream characters" YAML allows and that +you do not have characters with codepoint values outside the Unicode BMP +(basic multilingual page). YAML also does not allow C<\/> sequences in +strings (which JSON::XS does not I generate, but other JSON +generators might). + +There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of (or the YAML +specification has been changed yet again - it does so quite often). In +general you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice +versa, or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are +high that you will run into severe interoperability problems when you +least expect it. + +=over 4 + +=item (*) -There might be other incompatibilities that I am not aware of. In general -you should not try to generate YAML with a JSON generator or vice versa, -or try to parse JSON with a YAML parser or vice versa: chances are high -that you will run into severe interoperability problems. +I have been pressured multiple times by Brian Ingerson (one of the +authors of the YAML specification) to remove this paragraph, despite him +acknowledging that the actual incompatibilities exist. As I was personally +bitten by this "JSON is YAML" lie, I refused and said I will continue to +educate people about these issues, so others do not run into the same +problem again and again. After this, Brian called me a (quote)I(unquote). + +In my opinion, instead of pressuring and insulting people who actually +clarify issues with YAML and the wrong statements of some of its +proponents, I would kindly suggest reading the JSON spec (which is not +that difficult or long) and finally make YAML compatible to it, and +educating users about the changes, instead of spreading lies about the +real compatibility for many I and trying to silence people who +point out that it isn't true. + +=back =head2 SPEED @@ -909,11 +1230,13 @@ in the JSON::XS distribution, to make it easy to compare on your own system. -First comes a comparison between various modules using a very short -single-line JSON string: - - {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], \ - "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, true, false]} +First comes a comparison between various modules using +a very short single-line JSON string (also available at +L). + + {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", + "we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, + true, false]} It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface @@ -939,7 +1262,7 @@ favourably to Storable for small amounts of data. Using a longer test string (roughly 18KB, generated from Yahoo! Locals -search API (http://nanoref.com/yahooapis/mgPdGg): +search API (L). module | encode | decode | -----------|------------|------------| @@ -986,21 +1309,25 @@ arrays. The C stack is a limited resource: for instance, on my amd64 machine with 8MB of stack size I can decode around 180k nested arrays but only 14k nested JSON objects (due to perl itself recursing deeply on croak -to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. to be +to free the temporary). If that is exceeded, the program crashes. To be conservative, the default nesting limit is set to 512. If your process has a smaller stack, you should adjust this setting accordingly with the C method. -And last but least, something else could bomb you that I forgot to think -of. In that case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, -though... +Something else could bomb you, too, that I forgot to think of. In that +case, you get to keep the pieces. I am always open for hints, though... + +Also keep in mind that JSON::XS might leak contents of your Perl data +structures in its error messages, so when you serialise sensitive +information you might want to make sure that exceptions thrown by JSON::XS +will not end up in front of untrusted eyes. If you are using JSON::XS to return packets to consumption by JavaScript scripts in a browser you should have a look at L to see whether you are vulnerable to some common attack vectors (which really are browser design bugs, but it is still you who will have to deal with it, as major -browser developers care only for features, not about doing security +browser developers care only for features, not about getting security right). @@ -1009,7 +1336,7 @@ This module is I guaranteed to be thread safe and there are no plans to change this until Perl gets thread support (as opposed to the horribly slow so-called "threads" which are simply slow and bloated -process simulations - use fork, its I faster, cheaper, better). +process simulations - use fork, it's I faster, cheaper, better). (It might actually work, but you have been warned). @@ -1017,9 +1344,8 @@ =head1 BUGS While the goal of this module is to be correct, that unfortunately does -not mean its bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. It is -still relatively early in its development. If you keep reporting bugs they -will be fixed swiftly, though. +not mean it's bug-free, only that I think its design is bug-free. If you +keep reporting bugs they will be fixed swiftly, though. Please refrain from using rt.cpan.org or any other bug reporting service. I put the contact address into my modules for a reason. @@ -1049,6 +1375,10 @@ 1; +=head1 SEE ALSO + +The F command line utility for quick experiments. + =head1 AUTHOR Marc Lehmann